Sublime Frequencies is celebrating their 15 year anniversary. To mark the occasion, they are hosting a three day festival at Théâtre Berthelot in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, France on November 9-11, 2018.

There will be live bands, multiple documentary screenings from the label’s vast cinema archive, DJ sets from the label founders and SF contributors, as well as an exhibit showcasing the visual history of the label’s 15 year existence with artwork, flyers, posters, and other rare visual esoterica. There will be new and exclusive merchandise available only at this event.

I am scheduled to do a DJ set after The Brothers Unconnected on Sunday. Please come out and say hello, bonjour, hola, ciao, مرحبا, สวัสดี…

Kabaka was born in Kyambogo, Uganda in 1939. By the time he was twelve, his family had moved to Nairobi. In 1954, Daudi recorded his first composition, “Nie Kabaka Naimba”, for the CMS label (Capitol Music Stores). In 1959, he began working with Equator Sound Studio and soon became a salaried member of the house band – The Equator Sound Boys (A.K.A. The Equator Sound Band, The Jambo Boys).

Through out the 1960s, Kabaka recorded a number of hits for Equator Sound, including “African Twist”, “Harambee Harambee” and “Helule Helule”. In 1967, his song “Helule Helule” was covered by The Tremeloes and it became a hit in United Kingdom – reaching number 14 on the charts. But owner / producer Charles Worrod had registered himself as the composer / arranger of the songs released by his label. This eventually led to a falling out with most of musicians on the label over royalty payments – including Kabaka who by that time had registered with the PRS (Performing Right Society) in London.

Kabaka resigned from Equator Sound in 1972, and with some of his old Equator colleagues launched their own production company – African Eagles Recording, Ltd. The label copied the Equator format of having a house band that sometimes recorded under its own name – African Eagles Lupopo – and sometimes served as a backing group for other musicians and singers. The studio band originally included Gabriel Omolo, Sylvester Odhiambo as well as the Zambian émigrés Nashil Pichen and Peter ‘Tsotsi’ Juma.

You can find two songs by The Eagles Lupopo 77 on two different compilations: “Ajali Ya Mombasa” on AI Records “The Essential East African Collection Vol 1” and “Dina na Jim” on Next Music’s “Essential East African Hits Volume 2”.

I first came across the Tafo Brothers while working on the Pakistan • Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966 – 1976 compilation. The master tape for The Blue Birds’ version of “Sun We Bilou Waliya” had been damaged. So, EMI Pakistan sent us the Tafo Brothers’ version instead.

There are two albums of their versions of M. Ashraf tunes – Great Love Songs of M. Ashraf Volume 1 Instrumental and M. Ashraf at His Best Instrumental Volume 2 that you can find on most major online digital media outlets.

Berkant Akgürgen was born on New Years Eve 1938 in Ankara, Turkey. At the age of 19, he formed his first band Üstün Poyrazoğlu Orkestrası. Later that year, the band changed their name to Jüpiter Kenteti – or Jupiter Quintets. After a stint in the military, he formed Vasfi Uçaroğlu Orkestrası.

Berkant recorded dozens of singles between 1966 and 1974, and many of the songs were collected on an album in 1974. In 1993, he attempted a comeback with an album called “Samanyolu ’93” – or “Milky Way ’93”. He died today – October 1st, 2012.

This song, which translates as “First Love” was originally recorded by Ajda Pekkan.

Now, there never was a band called ‘Monkey A Go Go Band’. The origin of this single is pretty sketchy, since there is no information on it what so ever. I believe it was manufactured in either Malaysia or Hong Kong. But the cover happens to look a whole like Takeshi Terauchi & His Blue Jeans’ album “モンキー・ア・ゴー・ゴー!” – which translates as “Monkey A Go Go!“. And, what do you know? All of the songs on this single happen to be on that album.

Catalog number EPS 201 on STL Records. No other information available.

ԱՐԱ – or Ara – was an Armenian musician based in Beirut, Lebanon. He released at least one other single as Ara and His Trio – which was multi-colored record released by Lis Records with “Sev Sev Atcher” (which had also been recorded by fellow Armenian Adiss Harmandyan) on the A side and “Maria” on the flipside.